How often should I do Pilates?

How often should I do Pilates? It’s a great question and a hard one to answer.  In my opinion any movement daily is a good thing for the mind and body.  Focusing on Pilates daily is even better and it doesn’t have to be  a long session.  Most people do an hour’s Pilates class a week.  This is great, they feel the benefits and know that if they did more they would feel even better especially if the reason they started was due to an injury.

So why don’t we do more?

For most people it’s time, not prioritising or not having the motivation. Even though we know the benefits of Pilates will be great for us!!

So I’d like to introduce your to my client Anthony.

He started Pilates a year ago (after his wife persuaded him).  In class as with everyone I try and encourage everyone to do a little practice during the week as I know how it will help and especially during the school holidays when we have weeks off at a time.  School holidays was the reason I started my 10 minute pilates practice online videos in the hope that time people would practice and most people could find 10 minutes in their day!

So Anthony, suddenly found a way to motivate himself into practicing his 10 minute pilates daily!  He tells how it happened below:

“I have been boasting on Twitter to teacher Louise, boss of Studio 44 Pilates, every day this last week. And adding the odd extra, like on day five of the week: “Bit sad tho’, isn’t it…Five Days practice, just five…And I’m boasting….Still, needs must, and it IS five where once there was none ….”. Which begins to explain ….

I have been doing a weekly class for about a year, mostly enjoying it. The activity itself, the gentle banter between us students and with teacher, the endless patience and persistent encouragement (plus expertise of course) of Louise — all of this I have been enjoying. But practice between sessions? No! Not me, bar one online Saturday morning Facebook Live session. Lots of reasons why not. Lots of excuses. But no practice! Not even the odd ten minutes.

Then just a week ago I started. Every day. Ten minutes. First couple of days using exercises from memory, then turning to the ten minute videos on the Studio 44 website. What flicked a switch for me was finding myself noodling about the Internet, reading about Joseph Pilates (he developed what he called ‘Contrology’ as an internee during World War One, on the Isle Of Man) — his own description of his exercises & philosophy, his worryingly named Pilates machines (eg The High Electric Chair).

Why did this get me going? Well, on reflection I realised what I should have thought about before, for I learned once that we differ in the ways we learn best — and I am ‘learning’ Pilates. I am one of those who likes theory and knowing the ‘why’ of things. Perhaps this was why reading about the history & theory of Pilates got me started in a way that exhortations to practise did not.

Plus some practical things. I started (advised by Joseph Pilates) looking closely at myself & my posture in the mirror and didn’t like much what I saw. I put the Pilates map under my bed, making it easy to get out. I started to put on my Pilates kit to practise, it seems to help focus. I decided to do it every morning, first thing. I announced that I was practising and boasted about my progress to Louise on Twitter, every day. So now I have to keep going. I want to keep going. I enjoy keeping going. After all, as Louise keeps tweeting #MenDoPilates, #practiceworks, and as I tweet now everyday #ContrologyRules and #thismandoespilatespractice!”

 

As we publish this Anthony has been practicing for 15 days and starting to notice the different.  As Joseph Pilates quotes in ten sessions your feel the difference which Anthony is!  20 more days will see the whole new body!  Plus Anthony will have formed a habit so Pilates becomes part of his daily life!

So why not come and follow us on twitter  @studio44pilates and @aglawton52 continue following Anthony’s journey and tell us about the start of yours. Don’t forget to tag us in and use the hastags #pilatespractice #practiceworks #ContrologyRules

 

So what’s your excuse for not practicing?

  It’s only 10 minutes to find in your day to make you feel

better in both mind and body!

Find out more about the membership HERE